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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23914777">belt</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pokeshipping_Flash/pseuds/Pokeshipping_Flash'>Pokeshipping_Flash</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Best Friends, Body Positive, F/M, Flash Fic, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, One Shot, Romantic Friendship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:56:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,354</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23914777</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pokeshipping_Flash/pseuds/Pokeshipping_Flash</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ash worries he's changing for the worse. Misty intervenes. Hints of Pokeshipping.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kasumi | Misty/Satoshi | Ash Ketchum</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>belt</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Y'know, there's nothing quite like using your OTPs to discuss the subject of body positivity... :-)</p><p>Requests are always open but only received through the affiliated Tumblr blog (link can be found on profile).</p><p>Feel free to ask the author a question via comment, or else a review would be great if you enjoyed the story.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Guh…” Ash grunted to himself under his breath, feeling oddly defeated but just as unwilling to admit it. He’d never seen this one coming.</p><p>The leather strap tightened roughly through the loops in his jeans and pinched his waist as he tugged it towards his belly button from both sides, scowling at his reflection as it mocked him. And still, his belt refused to give in to his silent demands for it to fit around his middle. He could barely get it around his front at <em>all</em>, in fact.</p><p>Maybe he shouldn’t have eaten that third double cheeseburger last night…</p><p>“Yo, Ash, you almost ready to go, man? Misty and I already checked out our Pokemon from the Center!” Brock called out from the hallway beyond the closed guest room door.</p><p>“Just… a sec!” the young trainer shouted with a heaving breath, wrenching both his arms towards each other one final time and firmly giving up on this obviously poor choice of tactic when all it did was cause a faint burning friction in certain areas of his waist. He exhaled deeply, catching his breath, before a new, far superior idea popped into his head and he started easing himself cautiously backwards towards the twin mattress behind him.</p><p>“C’mon, Ash, you’ve been in there long enough! Pikachu is anxious to get on the road! I can’t believe that you aren’t feeling the same way!” Misty chided now, knocking somewhat impatiently on the door.</p><p>“Hey, gimme a… break!” he began in response, falling flat onto his back in time with the pause in his statement. “I’ll be out when I’m ready! I just need a good,” tug, “couple,” yank, “of minutes,” and heave, “okay?!” he ended somewhat rudely.</p><p>This, of course, was the wrong tone to use with his redheaded friend as she immediately began turning the doorknob (that <em>of course</em> he’d forgotten to lock), incensed and ready to tell him off considering she hadn’t done a single <em>thing </em>to provoke him.</p><p>“That’s it, Ash, Pikachu and I are comin’ in!” she exclaimed scathingly, and the door swung open so violently that it knocked against the rubber stopper on the in-room side of the wall and bounced back some. “What’s your deal, huh? You think you get to catch an attitude just because you woke up on… the wrong side… of the bed…?”</p><p>She faltered at the sight of him gawking at her like a Stantler caught in the headlights of an incoming eighteen wheeler, pants (thankfully) up to his waist and buttoned, but fly open and a brief peak of his boxers showing while his tee shirt bunched around his chest.</p><p>She cleared her throat and told herself to remember to breath through the mortification of this scenario, and Pikachu wriggled his way from where he’d originally been sitting in the warmth of her one-armed embrace to go greet his trainer close up.</p><p>Ash snapped upright immediately, turning and facing the opposite direction, abandoning his partner on the bed.</p><p>“Jeez, Mist, what’s wrong with you?! I told ya I was…” he grunted much the same as he’d been doing earlier, trying and failing even now to get his belt to compromise (or simply concede to his will) but it didn’t work, “… still getting ready!”</p><p>“Ash, what’s…”</p><p>
  <em>Push through, Misty, remember, just ignore your stupid nerves. Who cares if you just saw stupid Ash’s stupid underwear for the second stupid time since you started traveling together…?</em>
</p><p>“What’s going on?”</p><p>“It’s nothin’, okay? This stupid belt just… It’s just givin’ me trouble…”</p><p>She sighed in response. Ordinarily she’d admonish him for waiting so long. After all, Ash Ketchum had brought up that he’d had to use a looser notch a few different times over the recent months and it had obviously, finally caught up with him. Shame on him for waiting so long to replace it, right? Or perhaps she would relish in his frustration. He deserved what he got for slacking off and overeating!</p><p>But a small fraction of her conscience brought her attention to the telltale signs of his own humiliation over the matter and she felt some sympathy as she watched him from behind, finally relinquishing the new type of battle he’d been struggling with for who knows <em>how </em>much of the morning and unlooping the leather strap from around his waist, tossing it unceremoniously onto the bed beside a somewhat concerned Pikachu, fastening his slightly snug jeans with somewhat less of a struggle, and turning to face her, cheeks unnaturally scarlet.</p><p>Neither of them said anything for a moment until Ash finally realized he would do best to break the ice.</p><p>“Where’d Brock go?”</p><p>“He and Togepi swung back to the cafeteria to grab some fruit for everyone to snack on later today on the road.” </p><p>“So… what’s goin’ on here?” she asked with brevity, accompanying her inquiry with a raised eyebrow.</p><p>“I said it’s nothing!” he replied sharply, then caught her eye somewhat apologetically when he realized he’d come on too strong. “I just… I ate too much last night, I guess.”</p><p>“Last night?” she yelped incredulously. “Ash, you’ve always eaten a lot, ever since the day we met! You can’t blame this on one extra burger! Besides, haven’t you been saying for awhile that you’ve repeatedly loosened your belt buckle?”</p><p>Perhaps her commentary was too blunt because he didn’t respond to that, instead slumping back into a sitting position on the bed and scratching Pikachu behind the ears with a sigh.</p><p>“Well… I mean, you’ve also worn the same belt since the day you left home, right?” she tried again, tone softening from the guilt. It wasn’t like she’d meant to make him feel bad! “That was a good two or so years ago. You’ve - well, really, <em>we’ve</em> - grown some all around, right? You were bound to need a new one eventually whether you ate an extra portion here or there! That’s just what happens when people grow.”</p><p>He continued sulking, though she thought she saw his shoulders straighten just a little after her excuse.</p><p>“A - and besides,” she faltered briefly as she tried to figure out how best to word it, even gathering the courage to sit down beside him on the bed, eyeing the considerable <em>lack</em> of distance between them, “what’s a couple of pounds anyway? It’s not like gaining weight effects the type of trainer you are or the type of person you are! You definitely shouldn’t let it bother you, ya know? I mean, it would be worse I think if you decided to change who you are because you were worried about your gut or whatever!”</p><p>Ash finally dared to look her in the eyes and she stared back, blinking away the slight flush that was creeping along her cheeks.</p><p>“You really think that? That it doesn’t matter if I eat a little extra or if I look a bit different?”</p><p>“Well, yeah… I mean, I can’t speak for <em>everyone in the world</em> but there’s no way that… that I would look at you any differently, Ash! I would only think less of people who judge others based on their appearance! It’s like they say; it’s what inside that matters most! And you’re a great person on the inside so there’s no problem, right?”</p><p>She’d gotten so wrapped up in her preaching, doing her utmost to improve his mood, that she hadn’t realized she’d started rambling and raining compliments on him.</p><p>Thankfully, Ash was so busy taking to heart what she was saying that he didn’t feel the need to poke fun at her for being so nice for a change.</p><p>“… Yeah, you’re right, I think. Thanks for sayin’ all that, Mist. C’mon, guys. We can meet Brock out front.”</p><p>They all stood, Ash grabbing his backpack and Misty handing him the Pokeballs she’d retrieved from Nurse Joy for him. He grabbed his old worn belt from the bed and tossed it into the small wastebasket by the door, following Misty and eventually passing by her in the hall, murmuring so low she almost couldn’t hear him.</p><p>“You’re a great person on the inside too.”</p>
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